MLP-The Gathering of Magic

Chapter 1- A Planeswalker's Beginning

It all happened on a day that was like any other. I'll never forget what caused everything I knew to change.

My name is Alan Quildor. I'm your average run in the mill nerd. You'll usually find me wearing cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and my grandfather's old black leather jacket. Around my neck is a dragon claw clutching a marble on a chain necklace. I keep to myself, not really popular with the ladies, and had very few friends. I had a steady job and except for the few friends I had I was on my own. This isn't much of a life, but I couldn't really complain.

Most of the time you can usually find me wasting my time as any nerd would, playing games. The few friends I did have also shared the same enjoyment for said games. Yet one that we had held with high esteem was one that had only been recently introduced to me. It was called MTG, otherwise known as Magic the Gathering.

The game itself seems complex at first, but like anything time simplifies everything. Just for those of you who are clueless, here's the general run down. You are known as a Planeswalker, someone who has the ability to travel through dimensions of reality and can cast spells...keep in mind this is not actually possible. Anyway, to cast your collection of spells stored in your library, you need to use lands. Basically, play lands to use your cards and reduce your opponent's life to zero by any means necessary. Now with that cleared up and I can continue my story.

On this day my friends and I had been preparing for the yearly comic-con. This three day event is a nerd's dream get away. I was packing up a few things to take with me this year. The plan was for the four us to enter the MTG tournament and hopefully have two of us make it to the finals to split the winnings. Usually this included a bit of money and several packs of cards.

As I was packing up, one of my friends came up to me in his costume. "Ready to go? I think everyone else is set."

"Yeah be out in a sec." I replied as I closed my bag before donning my own outfit. For this year, we thought it'd be cool for us the cosplay as some of the Planeswalker characters from the game. They had chosen three of original characters released in the game: Jace the telepath, Gideon the protector,and Chandra the pyromancer.

I on the other hand decided to go with a more recent one. The clothes I was currently wearing were dark blue robes with strips of flowing fabric. Under it was a red, fancy collared shirt and dark blue pants with black boots that stopped at my knees. On my shoulders were two golden colored armor plates. My left hand bore a black glove while my right arm had been covered in aluminum foil in a failed attempt to replicate his enchanted metal arm. This was the look of Tezzeret, master of metal.

Once in the car, it was an hour long drive to get to the site of the convention. We wandered around checking out the exhibits, bought some inventory off the vendors and had a blast. We even had a couple people come up to us for photo shoots. As time went on, it finally came time for main event we had been anticipating.

"You guys think we'll actually win the prize this year?" Asked my friend dressed as Gideon.

Our designated Chandra smirked, "Relax, we pooled our cards together and built the best decks we could. What could possibly go wrong?"

Hearing that made me groan. "Do me a favor and don't say that again."

"Why?"

"Because whenever someone says that, the universe is tempted to make anything that could go wrong, happen." Explained the friend wearing Jace's outfit.

Chandra laughed, "You two worry too much. Come on, they're about to reveal what the grand prize is."

At the center of the tournament area stood five individuals. They were dressed as the original five Planeswalkers. The first one wore a cobalt colored cloak over what looked like a military generals coat of the same color. His face was covered by a hood and blue lights could be seen where his eyes should be. This was the signature look of Jace.

The his left was a bulky man who donned platemail armor. He had no helmet covering his face and was equipped with a buckler style shield on his left hand as well as a coiled whip on his right. I admit, for cosplaying Gideon he did pretty good.

On Gideon's left was a girl as Chandra. Her clothing was fire red with golden plates of armor on her shoulders, chest, hips and knees. Around her waist was a skirt that was longer in the back and had a think ribbon hanging in front. Pilot goggles rested on her head holding back her bright red hair. She had a bit of a cocky smirk, but then again Chandra is a hot head. (Cue the drum, ba da cha)

Standing to the right of Jace was another girl with long pointed ears. Nissa is the planeswalker of elvish decent. She had long brown hair bound in a single braid stopping at her mid back. Protecting her body was a simple set of tanned leather armor and a deep leaf green cloak. On her back was an elegant bow with a quiver of arrows. Resting against her shoulder while softly in her grip was her staff as it gave off a faint green glow. According to the game lore the source of her magic was through the very soul of the natural world.

The last member of the original five was the lady off to Nissa's right. She was referred to as Liliana the queen of the dead as she was the necromancer. Her jet black hair fell to her shoulders and was held back by a silver, crown like hair piece. The purple clothes she wore were quite revealing as her top covered only her bust exposing her her slim stomach with long sleeves. Her matching skirt flowed a bit as draped to the floor. Through a slit in the skirt one of her legs was exposed that showed a black boot that stopped above her knee with a skeletal design on it. One of the more interesting parts that I could see was the demon contract she made that was carved into her skin.

When the players that had entered were finally gathered, Jace stepped forward with his hand in the air. We fell silent as he began to speak. "Thank you all for attending this year's tournament." The illusionist spoke in a chilling voice. "We will begin momentarily, but first we will reveal the prize to be won." The five parted as they revealed the first place prize. "Like always, the grand champion will be give boxes of cards from the latest set to be released as well as a rare unreleased card. However,"

Liliana smirked and stepped forward. "The planeswalker to come out on top shall also receive a special trinket from us.~" Gideon handed her what looked like a large book bound with a silver cover. "They will receive this planeswalker library to hold all of their spells." The lady held it out to the group as all the contestants "ooo"ed and "ahhhh"ed. "Happy dueling.~" She winked as several of the male players grew hearts in their eyes.

"Maaaaan… I want her to give me that book…" Breathed my friend as he blushed and stared at her. I rolled my eyes before slamming my heel on his toe making him wince and hiss in pain.

As the necromancer retreated to put the book back on the table behind her, Jace stepped forward again. "Now, this year as many of you have heard will be a commander tournament. Ready your libraries and prepare for battle."

Now I'm just going to fast forward through the tournament while I give you all the rundown on what "commander" is. In MTG there are multiple different formats you can play. They include: standard, commander, two headed giant, emperor, and battle royale. For now though, I'm only going to explain commander.

In this format all Planeswalkers involved start off with a total of 40 life points. They also have to fight with decks of 100 cards exactly. With the exception of any basic lands they use, they may only have one copy of any other card in their deck. One of these cards is kept outside the main deck and kept face up. This creature is called your commander. Your deck may only use colored spells that share a color with your commander. For example, if your commander requires black or red lands to either summon it to the battle field you can only use red and/or black spells in your deck, but if it has an ability on it that uses white lands then you can also have that color in your deck.

For the majority of the game the commander stays in an area called the commander zone. You can cast your commander at all point during your turn from this zone so long as you have the necessary lands to play it. Should it leave the battlefield, it'll return to the commander zone, and on top of that for every time you go to recast it you have to pay an additional two lands or Mana as we call it to summon it again. The last rule that defines a commander battle is that if yours deals at least 20 damage to your opponent's life by itself over the course of the game you win.

Now that you all know the rules let's return to the tournament. Let's see...oh here we are, the finals. Much to our surprise and delight two of us from my friends had indeed made it to the last match. We were going to win no matter what, but now it was a battle to see who would get to claim the fancy book that Liliana had been showing off. Every round consists of a match between players, and every match had three games in it. You know, best two out of three.

It was myself and my friend impersonating Jace that were the last two. The match itself was at down to the wire as we each had won one round. I was playing my signature deck, artifacts. Don't ask me why, they're one of my prefered card types to play. He on the other hand, decided to play a rather annoying deck. Now this is going to sound redundant, but he was playing...a Jace mill deck. If you're asking what a Jace mill deck is, it is a deck comprised of only blue cards focused around one main mechanic: send all the cards possible from your opponent's deck to the grave. Why? Well, if you must know, all these card games come prepared with one default instant win condition. If your turn starts and you have no more cards to draw...how do I put this lightly, YOU LOSE!

The one downside to his deck is that it doesn't do any damage once so ever to the opponent. I had gotten him down to 1 life left while I was still sitting at full starting health. Then, of course he shut down my attacks. Despite my army of artifacts he had two cards, only two, that stopped me from damaging him.

The first was an artifact creature know as Silent Arbiter. Pretty much in a nutshell, it only allows one monster to attack or block each turn. That would be fine...if he didn't also have another creature called Fog Bank. This harmless creature can't defeat any other in combat, but it has the ability to negate any combat damage it would take. I had ended my turn, unable to play anything else hoping to find the right card to end him.

"Sorry man," my friend grinned as drew his next card from his deck. "But this may be the end of you." Tapping his lands he played his card. My heart sank a bit. His card, Traumatize, takes half of the cards in your deck and sends them straight to grave. I had gone through most of my cards from searching them out and his other milling spells.

"Dude...I reeeeeally hate your deck…" I grumbled as I sent twenty more cards to the grave. If only that was where he stopped that turn. He played three more spells and sent even more to the abyss. When all was said and done, I had but one lonely card left in my deck.

"Damn...ran out of mana," my friend sighed before grinning. "Once you take your next turn, all I have to do is draw and pass, and I'll win." I was sweating as my hand hovered over my near empty deck. The other players who had lost out on the tournament were gathered around in anticipation. Everyone was waiting to see what my final card would be.

"Looks like the mill deck's going to win." One player sighed.

Another glared, "Oh shut up, he's still got a chance."

"With one card? Unlikely…" My fingers lightly gripped the last card as I added it to my hand. I took a deep breath before reading its text. The others around us remained silent until a small chuckle escaped my throat. "...I think he's lost his sanity…" My laughter grew as I played my trump card.

"Try beating me with this!" I slapped my card down after paying it's cost. "Behold the artifact creature, Platinum Angel!" Gasps were heard around the table as I sat back in my seat with a smug look.

My friend groaned, "Dammit, I thought I already made you mill that…" Why the big fuss? This is perhaps one of the most fun/annoying cards in the whole game. This one card literally says, you can't lose the game and your opponents can't win. Broken maybe, but possible to get around. "So much for your milling strategy. Good luck trying to win now."

"Don't be so sure of yourself." My friend glared. "All I have to do is wait to draw a card to remove that angel from the field and it's game over for you." More murmurs were heard from around the table as I looked at the card in my hand. He had a point, despite the artifact I had in play making all of my artifacts immortal I had no means of protecting them from being either exiled or bounced back to my hand.

One person tapped my shoulder. "Can't you use that card in your hand?"

I sighed, "Nope...sadly it costs eleven mana to cast, and since my opponent milled everything else in my deck I'm one short. Not that it would be any use anyway…"

"Not that one, the one under it." The player pointed out. In confusion I moved my fingers to reveal a second card in my hand.

"Oh...I forgot I had this still in my hand." I breathed. "How about that, the planeswalker I'm cosplaying as is going to help me win this."

"Wait, you mean you still have…" My friend's eye twitched a bit, "Tezzeret, Master of Metal?"

I grinned, "Yep, though you're lucky. Had I remembered I had that left in my hand you would have been defeated this turn, but since I don't have enough mana you have one last turn. Use it wisely." I taunted as I passed my turn.

"Oh crap…" He muttered to himself as he drew his card and played several spells from his hand. Within minutes, he had no more mana available and had even drawn nine new cards. I chuckled while his face became deep red. "HOW WAS I ONLY ABLE TO DRAW NINE MORE FUCKING LANDS?!" He snarled.

"End your turn?" I smirked. A sigh of defeat was heard as his head bowed and he waved his hand to me. With my mana open again, I used what I needed and summoned my planeswalker.

"Now I decrease Tezzeret's loyalty count by three to use his ability to deal one point of damage to you for each artifact I currently control. Which as of right now is 10." I declared, "Game over." As my friend slumped in his chair, the others cheered while some patted my back.

"Awesome comeback." One grinned.

My friends and I packed up our cards and stood before the five tournament officials. Gideon smirked and clapped his hands slowly. "Very well done, young one. You have proven your cunning, valor, and prowess in battle." A grin was painted on my face as my companions rolled their eyes.

Nissa stepped forward, "Having seen your skills, it is obvious that you can remain calm and collected when times are dark."

"Nice to see your willing to do what needs to be done to win. Chip damage for the win." Chandra smirked with a thumbs up.

Liliana was next as she walked closer to me. She reached out, pressing her finger under my chin to have me look in her eyes. "Rather amusing to see you taunt your own friend when victory was secured for yourself.~" She grinned and pecked my cheek with a kiss, leaving a dark purple kiss mark. My face was covered with a blush as my friends snickered at my embarrassment.

Jace cleared his throat and stepped forward as the other four pulled away. "Congratulations on your victory. Please accept your prize." The blue hooded man handed me three booster boxes for the latest set. "Also in addition to that, we would like to give you another artifact to bolster your strength." The card he handed me was a dragon like artifact that gave me access to every one of the five colors. "Lastly, we would like to bestow this book onto you. The Gate Watch recognizes you as a worthy planeswalker." The other four clapped while I happily accepted the metal book from Jace.

"It's an honor, Sir." I grinned. That was probably the highlight of the entire day. My friends and I spent the rest of our time wandering around the convention. It was a blast, we got some more neat trinkets, and we even met some of our idols from shows we watched. Six hours later came the saddest part...the end. We left the convention for the day and piled into the car. We drove off on the highway as we talked and laughed about our day.

"Can't believe you managed to beat me." The driver grinned. "Talk about by the skin of your teeth."

I chuckled. "Well, that's what happens when you build a good deck. It'll help you when you need it most."

Now remember how one of these friends said, "What could possibly go wrong?" This is why you don't go around saying phrases like that. We were about half way home, still on the highway, when the jinx took effect. There was a loud pop before the car began shaking violently.

"We lost a tire! I can't control it!" Cried the driver. As the rest of us gripped onto whatever we could find in the car, I gasped in horror as it became clear the car was quickly approaching a curve on the highway. "We're going to crash!" The next few seconds were a blur as the car broke through the guardrail and tumbled into the gorge below.

My eyes slowly pulled open. I was on my back, staring up at the starry sky. Groaning in pain, I sat up as I coughed harshly. Based on the iron taste in my mouth, I knew I was bleeding internally. There was a glow with heat at my side. As I turned to look, my spirits sank as I saw the car we had been driving in covered with flames and completely smashed. From what I could see there was no sign of my friends.

Standing wasn't an option as I couldn't feel my legs from the knees down. In an effort to crawl to the car and try to help my friends, I rolled on my stomach. More coughs followed as I could feel blood flow out my mouth. My sight was starting to darken while I reached my hand out towards the car. One shaky breath later, my strength left me with my hand landing on the metal book I had won.

(Third Person POV)

Smoke from the accident rose into the sky as the night passed on. No one was in the vicinity to call for help, the only survivor's life was fading fast. Out of the gloom five figures slowly approached as they took in the tragic sight. Soon enough, they zeroed in on the boy who had been launched from the car before it burst into flames.

"If he dies I could just bring him back as my servant. I would be happy to make him a new addition.~" Smirked a dark female.

Another lady, clad in green, kneeled down as she pressed her fingers softly to his neck. "You can knock it off. He's still alive."

"Yeesh, the kid was lucky he wasn't in the bonfire." Grimaced a girl with fiery hair.

"Amazing his body has yet to give out." Nodded a bulky man, "Much fortitude he seems to possess."

"Indeed," noted a blue cloaked man, "Not the most calm of triggers for one to awaken one's planeswalker abilities." His hand gestured to the silver book as it was now pulsing purple and slowly spread over his body. The group watched as the bleeding from his wounds stopped while his blood turned back.

"Isn't strange that Tezzeret's treasured artifact ended up with someone pretending to be him?" Asked the red girl.

"I'm confident this one will be much more responsible with his power." Blue spoke. A sudden clicking noise was heard as the cogs engraved on the book began turning faster and faster. WIth a flash of purple light, a circular portal opened underneath the unconscious boy before he fell into it along with book. "And there he goes."

The five gathered around the purple hole as they watched him disappear into its depths. The fire user raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Ummm...does anyone know what plane this portal took him to?"

The green cloaked woman touched her hand to the rim of the portal. "The plane of...Equestria?"

Hello everyone. Decided to work on a brand new series. After reading a story for this place, I wanted to see if I could write a decent story myself. I hope you all enjoy the story as it continues to unfold. Please be sure to leave reviews so I can see what your opinions are of the story. They'll help write to best one I can. Till next time.